Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
My grandkids got school photos [a few] weeks ago. I received my prints a week ago and took the extra set to the UPS store to send to my parents, the Great-Grand Parents. Cheapest to send by US mail First class in a flat mailer so that’s what I did. No tracking, no signature, just mail them.
Spur of the moment, decided to visit my folks on Saturday: no photos.
The mailer should have gone out in the evening mail from Lexington Avenue at 5:00 on Monday. I was at my parents’ house Saturday. Five business days is not long enough for a First Class letter to get from St. Paul to Rochester?
[Columbus Day, when Joe mailed this], is a federal holiday. Tomorrow delivery maybe, for a total of eight days? Pony Express could have gotten it to California in that much time. The quality of service has fallen off dramatically.
It’s only photos, nothing urgent; but every time I use the Post Office for anything other than a Money Order, I am reminded why I refuse to use the Post Office for anything other than a Money Order.
Joe Doakes
I actually sent a letter – not an urgent one – via USPS last weekend. It was the first time I’ve done it in years.
Actually, I have been pleasantly pleased with USPS performance last couple of years. Every time I sent a letter or a package, it arrived either on time or ahead, and in good condition. Likewise for mail and parcels I received. And my postal carrier is a very nice chap. I am talking about my MSP experience, do not have a baseline for TX yet.
I’ve had mixed results, but after my daughter moved to Chicago, I learned to never send an uninsured or untracked package through them, no matter how mundane the contents are.
My son works for FedEx, so now I ship all packages through them. Get a discount and they ship and hold at their FedEx office location three blocks from my daughter’s house.